Author(s)

O’Connor and colleagues hypothesized that higher risk of posttransplant mortality in children receiving heart transplants could be predicted using patient-specific factors not currently accounted for in commonly used risk models. The authors retrospectively reviewed outcomes for 74 patients who underwent heart transplant over a six-year period in their center. They identified six risk factors: single-ventricle congenital heart disease, biventricular assist device, a history of four or more sternotomies, panel reactive antibody exceeding 10%, any previous operation at another institution, and pulmonary vein disease. After assigning a single point to each of these risk factors, a score of 4 points or more predicted posttransplant mortality with 57% sensitivity and 90% specificity.